fandomtownies | The beach, Monday afternoon

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The beach, Monday afternoon

Evi seemed to have left town again. Without saying another word to him, naturally, she knew that would send him reeling more than her giving him any sort of chance at closure.

Whatever. She was gone, and she hadn't done too much damage while she was on the island, as far as he knew. Gloria was gone, too, which wasn't the same kind of relief, but it was nice to think that maybe he and Octavia could start to work on finding their new normal now, without the pressures of his damn world trying to creep up on him.

The fact that that new normal wasn't going to include a certain snarky, British-coded angel. . . . Well, he was trying not to think too hard about that. People sometimes wandered in and out of your life. At least Lucifer had had the grace to say goodbye before he left.

Anyway. Duke Wasn't Thinking about all that. It was the end of September, and even the mid-Atlantic would start to get cold eventually, so he was out in the water today, taking as much advantage of the lingering warmth and sunlight as he could. The water was kind of freezing, but that was what wet suits were made for, right?

[moody beach post is open, yes!]

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“That’s progress,” Duke agreed. “Nice as it was to have Gloria around, I am so glad Parents Weekend is over.”

"Yeah," Octavia said.

And then the quiet was back again. Or maybe she just really needed to focus on her feet in the water? They were cold, after all.

And Duke let her. He told himself it was good, because being quiet together was something he had trouble with.

That he wasn’t just afraid of what would happen when they eventually had a proper conversation again.

He hopped a little from foot to foot, to keep them from getting buried in the cold sand as the water washed in and out, and offered her a small, hopeful smile.

"You look silly when you do that," Octavia told him after a second. Her voice sounded more gravelly than it should have, like she'd been quiet for much longer than she actually had.

Maybe she was just that out of practice with saying lighter things.

"Oh yeah?" Duke asked. The smile broadened. "Not as silly as when I do this."

He lifted their joined hands and ducked beneath them, like she was twirling him on a dance floor.

Octavia kind of gasped, softly, despite herself. That was the closest she could get to a startled laugh, these days.

That, and the equally softly muttered, "Branwoda."

"Ai tripi hef, I know," Duke said, tugging on her arm to pull her into a proper dance embrace.

And drip on her, probably.

He kind of did, yes. Octavia's nose wrinkled, faintly, briefly.

"You're getting cold water on me."

And still she let him, her free hand settling onto his shoulder like she didn't even know it was doing that.

"Maybe you can warm me up," Duke said, swaying them back and forth.

Octavia's snort was a little more muted and mild than she'd wanted it to be. "Might be asking too much," she rasped, letting him move her. "I'm cold, too."

"Then I guess we'll need to warm each other up?"

"And how do we do that?" Octavia asked, softly. She wanted to remember how to be light and silly with him.

But the best she could do was prompt him.

She'd get there. She was just out of practice.

"Admittedly step one is probably getting out of the cold water," Duke said. Making no move to actually do that. "Step two is more fun: cuddling."

There was something briefly distracted about Octavia's eyes. She was watching his lips, the way that one persistent strand of hair was still hanging in his face even now as it was dripping wet, the small details of his expression. The playful warmth in his eyes.

And she was thinking about him being like this with someone else. Looking like that at someone else.

(Someone better.)

She forced the little huff through her nose. And the very faint curving of the edges of her lips. "Cuddling, hmm?" she hummed. "We haven't done a lot of that."

Lately.

It wouldn't be exactly like this. It hadn't been with Nathan or Evi. This was just for Octavia.

"Guess it's been a while, huh," he said, losing some of the manic edge.

That wasn't going to be a thought Octavia was going to get to on her own.

"Yeah," she agreed, with a tiny nod. She shifted in place a little, her toes burrowing further into the sand. "There's been a lot going on."

Understatement of the year.

Someday they were really going to have to sit down and actually talk about this.

That day was not going to be today, though.

"Too much," Duke agreed, the rest of that smile falling off as he looked out over her head towards the town, then back down at her. "I'm sorry about Evi. I don't know what she was up to."

The rest of the softness faded from Octavia's expression, leaving nothing but mildness behind.

"I don't know, either," she said. "And I don't particularly care."

"You will if it bites us in the ass," Duke said, tone turning dark.

Sometimes he really felt like he could just kill Evi.

"Radio says she talked to you. What'd she say?"

Octavia's hands fell from him. Not abruptly: she let the one on his shoulder drag down his arm a little, first, as she drew the other from his grasp.

But, yeah.

Her expression closed off. "Nothing much," she said. "Just wanted to dig her claws into who I am to you."

And she was successful, Duke was guessing. Judging by the way Octavia was closing herself off again.

"I'm sorry," he said again, feeling useless. "I never should have gotten mixed up with her in the first place."

"What's done is done," Octavia replied, and looked out over the water.

It was on the tip of Duke's tongue to ask if they were okay. But that was a stupid question.

He as tearing this relationship down, and he didn't know how to stop.

"Let's go dry off," he said instead. "Warm up."

Octavia bit back her dry 'sure', and just... let it be implied in the way she turned to wade back to where her boots were.

The water seemed colder again, somehow. There'd been a moment there when she hadn't really noticed it.

Duke took a moment to just watch her go. Let the water continue to wash around his calves and ankles.

Then he trudged up the beach after her.

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